Freshmen Forwards (Overrated)

[Ice Meets Metal]

Schafer gambled with the freshman forwards this season and lost. His nepotistic country club recruiting agenda and guarantees have cost Cornell dearly. Funny how everyone was on the bandwagon about the freshman forwards scoring potential at the start of the season; they were the salvation of the team. Funny how people can believe so much hype and BS they can't see what's really there.

Greening: How does a freshman go to the top line, and stay there with meager production. At the beginning of the season all I heard was size, size and more size. Where are all the points? Moulson had more goals and points in his freshman year and Moulson sure didn't play on the first line or get as much if any power play time. Most of Greening's goals were all scored in a few games.  With all the chances that he was given, playing with 2 seniors, he should have been close to Moulsen's numbers last year. The problem is, Greening floats, yes he plays physical, but it seems the only time he does score is when he is parked in front of the net. His skating is weak; size alone doesn't win you games. Is he a distant relative of Schafer's? Because I can't figure how he got on the first line.

Milo: Again, how does a freshman go to the second line and stay there with only 3 goals and 1 assist for the whole season. But then he was one goal short of Cam Abbott's 4-goal production quota from last season, so I guess that makes him a keeper on the second line. At the start of the season, I heard he put up great numbers in the USHL. Well, they weren't that great, Milo was ranked somewhere in the mid 30's in scoring and if wasn't for the fact that he was traded to Lincoln mid season he wouldn't have even had those numbers. He may possess some skill, but he is small and underpowered. Short strike zones don't count in this sport.  He was virtually invisible most of season. Again, could he also be a relative of Schafer's.

Gallagher: Again from the smurf collection is Gallagher. He is probably the most skilled and definitely has the most hockey sense of the freshman forwards. However, he lacks the production and like Milo suffers from lack of size. Of the entire freshman, I had high hopes for Gallagher; I thought he would have done much better, point wise. How many Gopher Scotts do we really need?

Romano: Is Romano really that good or is it because everyone else on the team looks so bad. He looks good at times with his speed and moves. But what about all the times when he fails, and things that he doesn't do. One-dimensional player. He reminds me that peewee player, you know the one, the kid that carries the puck in all 3 zones while the parents in the stands yell; "pass the puck" before he loses it. The peewee team loses 5-3, " But coach I got 3 goals". Romano is the consummate score 1 goal for me and lose two goals for the team type of player. He's slight, looks like he should still be playing AAA, makes mistakes on his risk taking, but he does manage to outscore most of his team mates. 1 out 3 ain't good. If he really were pro material would he be playing on a mediocre team in a mediocre conference.  Time for a reality check.  He will disappear in minor pro, guaranteed, despite any pro reports. NJ used up a low draft pick on a long shot. They won't cash in.

Scali: The only freshman forward that didn't make it to the lineup on regular basis. Some thought his defensive abilities would get him on a checking line or on the PK. Perhaps next season; there'll probably be a few more openings, maybe quite a few.  Scali reminds me of that energizer bunny. Skates around all over the ice with lots of energy and is real noticeable. But doesn't seem to accomplish anything.

Fontas could have centered the checking line this season and probably done a very good job. This would have allowed Kennedy to center the 2nd line and would have most likely made more of an offensive impact than Gallagher. Barlow and Kindret, I'm sure could have been more productive on left wing on the 1st and 2nd line. In fact a combo of Barlow, Kindret and Kennedy would have made a formidable line. They were certainly awesome the rare times they played together last season. Connors could have been highly productive as right-winger this season if Schafer hadn't ruined him and forced him to quit. This kid could blast up and down the wing and take the big shot.

Think this year's freshmen will improve under the Schafer system. Highly doubt it. CU fans will be in store for more of the same old, same old next season.

But wait, there'll be a new crop of freshman next year, let's turf these guys and put all our beleaguer hopes onto the new freshman. In Schafer we trust.  LGR! LOL!

[dre1614]

[quote Ice Meets Metal]Romano:  Romano is the consummate score 1 goal for me and lose two goals for the team type of player.[/quote]

Oh really, if thats the case then why was his +/- rating this season including the playoffs a +8?

[ebilmes]

This one was at least entertaining to read.

[evilnaturedrobot]

I thought Greening was one of this team's best forwards coming down the stretch, and he was all over the score sheet towards the end of the season.  He started out slow and progressed as the year went on, isn't that what freshman are supposed to do?

over the last 11 games of the season Greening put up 7 goals, and 3 assists for 10 points.  Not awful for a freshman.

[French Rage]

LOUD NOISES!

[amerks127]

Can't say I agree with much of what you said in that post.  To begin with your sarcasm and ridiculous accusations of nepotism within the organization clearly point to you being more interested in pissing people off than actually talking hockey.

Next, just because certain freshman didn't put up lots of points this season (read: Milo) doesn't mean that their contributions weren't seen in other areas of the ice.

Third, attempting to compare the type of team that played at Lynah when Moulson was a freshman and when Greening was a freshman serves no purpose.  Players Vesce, Baby, and Paolini were putting up 30-45 points.  This year, our leading scorer had 25 points.  Greening had 19 and scored the most goals.  Bitz just didn't put up the type of numbers that everyone expected him to.  It's not Greening's fault and is irresponsible to attempt to place blame on him.  Greening also has blasted goals from the left faceoff circle and I see no problem with parking himself in front of the net and causing chaos.  One of Cornell's weaknesses this season was that they didn't send the puck to the front of the net enough.  Players like Jason Botterill have put up 40 goals in the AHL playing similar games.

Gallagher was second only to Bitz and Scott in terms of assists and was easily one of Cornell's best play makers all season.  Your comments about him actually say nothing.

As for Romano, he just makes things happen.  People are excited when he gets the puck and he produces.  I'm not saying he plays a perfect game, but with some development he certainly has the potential to be one of the most talented Red players this decade.  As previously stated too...his +8 stat speaks for itself.

I don't really see how you can blame the freshman for anything this year.  With a weak senior class (Bitz and McCutcheon having less than desirable years) the team leaned heavily on the freshman and they stepped it up.

Look for the freshman only to get better and be poised to make deep runs in '08 and '09.

[mttgrmm]

I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT!!!

[sah67]

Dude...are you Kindret's little brother or something?  You were blathering on idiotically in October about Kindret, and then telling us in November how much the team sucked and how we would never crack the polls.

Oh wait, I get it...seeing as you're Canadian, are you president of the York U. hockey booster club or something?

But seriously...idiots feed on attention...if no one had replied to his last CAPITALIZED diatribe, he probably would have gone back down to mommy's basement to play NHL '94 and put his superb strategies to work.

He reminds me of that peewee player, you know the one, the one with "issues" who can't lace up a pair of skates, but gets sat on the bench to make him feel better.

Let's all just ignore...

[Will]

[quote sah67]he probably would have gone back down to mommy's basement to play NHL '94 and put his superb strategies to work.[/quote]

Would he have taken the Kings to the Cup playing against the computer with the offsides off?

[Josh '99]

I like the title of this post a lot but it didn't deliver the promised goods.  This only talked about ONE annoying dumbass poster.  The title of the post promised more than one.

[sah67]

[quote Josh '99]I like the title of this post a lot but it didn't deliver the promised goods.  This only talked about ONE annoying dumbass poster.  The title of the post promised more than one.[/quote]

Apologies...title fixed.

[sah67]

[quote Will][quote sah67]he probably would have gone back down to mommy's basement to play NHL '94 and put his superb strategies to work.[/quote]

Would he have taken the Kings to the Cup playing against the computer with the offsides off?[/quote]

As long as the only shots he took were wrap-arounds

[redice]

[quote ebilmes]This one was at least entertaining to read.[/quote]

But not worthy of comment!!

[WillCMJr]

[quote Ice Meets Metal]
Greening: How does a freshman go to the top line, and stay there with meager production. At the beginning of the season all I heard was size, size and more size. Where are all the points? [/quote]

Greening 31games 19pts
Moulson 33games 23pts

Not a huge difference at all.

The offensive production is very similar to the Freshman class of that year, as a whole.  Could be better, but they turned out to give us a lot of good hockey!

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Will][quote sah67]he probably would have gone back down to mommy's basement to play NHL '94 and put his superb strategies to work.[/quote]

Would he have taken the Kings to the Cup playing against the computer with the offsides off?[/quote]

Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.